1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to portable electronic appliances and, more particularly, to a portable computer provided with a switching device capable of allowing a user to easily check the battery capacity outside of the computer without removing the battery from the computer, thus being convenient to the user.
2. Description of the Related Art
As well know to those skilled in the art, portable electronic appliances, such as portable computers, are typically designed to be light and small enough to be easily carried or moved by users. Thus, such portable computers are provided with batteries allowing users to easily use the computers in cars or airplanes without supplying external electric power to the computers.
Such an earlier portable computer typically comprises a main body, a battery receiving room formed within the main body and a battery installed in the battery receiving room. When external electric power can not be supplied to the portable computer, the electric power of the internal battery is supplied to the computer.
In such a case, the portable computer may not operate due to the lack of capacity of the battery. Accordingly, it is necessary for a user to check the battery when a user operates the computer.
The checking of the battery capacity is described below. First, the user operates the keyboard of the computer after booting the computer, thus causing the battery capacity to be displayed on the monitor of the computer. Second, the battery is removed from the computer. Thereafter, the capacity of the removed battery is measured by an additional measuring device. Therefore, the above-mentioned earlier method of checking the battery capacity not convenient to users.
The following patents each disclose features in common with the present invention but do not teach or suggest a portable electronic appliance provided with a switching device capable of allowing a user to easily check the battery capacity outside of the appliance without removing the battery from the appliance: U.S. Pat. No. 5,635,813 to Shigaet al, entitled Electronic Apparatus, Battery Management System, And Battery Management Method, U.S. Pat. No. 5,680,027 to Hiratsuka et al, entitled Battery Pack Including Internal Capacity Monitor For Monitoring Groups Of Battery Cells, U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,188 to Piercey, entitled Smart Battery System And Interface, U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,620 to Eaves, entitled Battery Charge Cycle Counter, U.S. Pat. No. 4,229,688 to Knox et al., entitled Battery Discharge Indicator, U.S. Pat. No. 4,737,702 to Koenck, entitled Battery Charging Control System Particularly For Hand Held Device, U.S. Pat. No.: 5,371,453 to Fernandez, entitled Battery Charger System With Common Charge And Data Exchange Port, U.S. Pat. No. 5,250,905 to Kuo et at., entitled Battery With Electrochemical Tester, U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,282 to McClure, entitled Battery Charging And Monitoring System, U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,738 to Bauer et al., entitled Intelligent Battery System, U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,949 to Young, entitled Battery Cell Having An Internal Circuit For Controlling Its Operation, U.S. Pat. No. 5,582,928 to Farley, entitled Supply Batteries, U.S. Pat. No. 5,477,129 to Myslinsid, entitled Charge Level Display Method And Apparatus For A Battery Of AN Electronic Device, U.S. Pat. No. 5,496,658 to Hein et al., entitled Storage Battery State-Of Charge Indicator, U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,024 to Kuo et al., entitled Battery With Electrochemical Tester, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,389,458 to Weiss et al., entitled Battery With Tester Label And Method For Producing It.